Going Sew Crazy

WOW! part 2 with lots o' pics

Ummm, wow, ya'll have really responded to the giveaway huh? Not only have you more than doubled the amount of comments, but, some have also de-lurked themselves, AND there are some incredibly TALENTED people reading my blog :) I love the links in the comment e-mail that shares your blog, website or flickr pics and have been hugely busy looking and reading through all the fantastic stuff out there :) Wow, I still can't believe the response :)

I have been sewing a little this week. I was telling Brice the other day that the picking up and dropping off at school thing has taken up a lot more of my day than I thought it would. Add getting the girls ready into that and it seems like most of my day is gone. Paige has always been picky about clothes and shoes, but her hair dos lately are crazy. Every morning it's "But Mama, I want my hair down."  or "You have to braid my hair today Mama." When did 5 yr olds get so picky about their hair? And Kelsey, bless her heart, has now taken to imitating her sister. I spend about 30 mins. a day on their hair!!! (don't even ask what mine looks like, I'm just happy to have it washed :) ) Anyway, I got this VERY VERY cute Tinkerbell knit from a mama at sewingmamas and used the VERY cute Olivia pattern from Farbenmix and came up with this:

Sorry the pic is blurry but just look how cute this fabric is:

Kelsey had to get in on the picture taking:

I have also started working on the fall stitchettes by wee wonderfuls. These are just too cute. I think I want to make a doll quilt with them.

Kelsey and I took a trip to the Goodwill store today and scored big. I got a ton of corduroy in 2 colors for almost nothing and some striped wool sweaters to felt, as well as 2 yds. of wool fabric. We also got some felt Halloween decorations, a huge bag of zippers, and a cute bear book, all which are pictured below. (the fabric pics were horrible)

Aren't these guys great?

and

Still no rain here :(  Although I was tortured the other day by clouds like this:

Tomorrow it will be 2 months. Ugh!

Have a great long weekend everyone :) I am going to put off the drawing until Tuesday since Monday is Labor Day. I don't like to blog when everyone is home, there's too much fun to be had :)

Giveaway Pics!

I promised good stuff, and I really think I delivered! Comment on yesterday's post to win this fabulous package!

Included is a huge scrap of the Japanese fabric I used to make Kelsey's fairytale dress, 10 FANTASTIC FQ's including Wizard of Oz, Heather Ross, Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, and Alexander Henry. Fun buttons, vintage trims, tags, 2 spools of wooly nylon, kawaii stationary, and Adorn's latest issue round out the package! Now go comment!!

WOW! 100 comments and a GIVEAWAY

I can't believe I reached 100 comments this morning! Comments are definitely one of the best things about blogging, so I decided to celebrate with another fantastic bloggy thing: a GIVEAWAY!! Post a comment here and I will send you 10 FQ's from my personal stash PLUS a lot of fun sewing notions, patterns, etc. I'll get it together tonight and post a pic tomorrow. I guarantee fantastic fabric including some Japanese fabric!! The notions and other stuff will be fantastic too. I'll let sign ups go for a week, so I'll pick a winner next Monday.

Another great thing about blogs is definitely tutorials. Carla mentioned my tute on her blog as part of 5 cool things to make so I decided to go through my VERY large bookmark list and try to pick 5 cool things to share too. I ended up having to make 3 different sections: softies, kid's clothes, and crochet. This was just too fun!

SOFTIES
1. Crazy ADORABLE owls at Moonstitches
2. Stripey Cat at Green Kitchen
3. Ruby Doll at One Red Robin
4. Fat Rabbit at Fripperee
5. CUTE Squirrel at Puchi Collective

Kids Clothes
1. Button down to Dress at Craftster
2. Vintage Smock from The May Fly
3. Shirred Dress at Amity Mama
4. Kori Skirt at Sewing Mamas
5. Faux Layered Sleeves at Sewing Mamas

Crochet
1. Amigurumis
2. Oh so cute Storage and Bags at Clover
3. Cute Stuff for Girls at Luv2Crochet
4. Candy Corn Hat for Halloween
5. Crochet Mary Janes

I'll definitely have to do this again next week. I didn't even make a dent in my tutorials list :)

We braved the heat this weekend to go to our local kidsfest. Lots of fun, crafts, things to do and see. I wanted to share some pics of the girls:

Milking a dairy goat

Making wands with daddy

Checking out the helicopter

and driving the firetruck

I am doing something.

I know my blogging has slacked off, but this school thing is kicking my butt. Getting up early, getting THREE girls ready, dropping off, to Brice's office, errands, picking up...It's starting to get a bit repetitious. Add on the still searing heat, and NO rain, not even the chance of rain and it's enough to make a girl mad :) I get a little crazy when I start thinking about the heat. When I dwell on it too long, I get depressed and I just want it to rain sooo bad. An entire front passed through the area yesterday, but all the rain skipped right on by us. Ugggh!

Enough about that. I actually have been sewing. I made some dresses from a Farbenmix E-book. I used some of my hoarded Japanese fabric, and they turned out wonderfully:

and

The Hedgie dress is up for grabs. It's a sz. 5. $40 . I just don't like the way it looks on Pay.

I also got my August FQ swap this past week. Look at all these gorgeous pinks! It will definitely go to use in my house full of girls!

and what I am about to send out. Late I might add.

And just look at these fabulous new Farbenmix patterns. I really need these: Antonia and Celina.

Twirly Skirts and Tutorial

I made the girls some drop waisted twirly skirts this morning, and took pics to put a tutorial together. It took me a ridiculously long time to figure out twirl skirts, so I thought this might be helpful. My girls love these kinds of skirts.

Drop Waist Twirl Skirt Tutorial

Start out by measuring your child's hip or waist depending on where they wear bottoms, and the length from that area to where you want the skirt to fall.

A. Waist Pieces
Cut 2 waist pieces 4 inches long and the child's waist measurement divided by 2 plus a couple of inches for ease wide (measurement A from now on ).

B. Lower Skirt Pieces
Measuring on the fold, draw a rectangle the width of measurement A wide, and the length you want the skirt to be minus 3 inches. You'll need to do this with both the upper and lower skirt if you want it to have 2 layers. You can just make one layer as well.

C. Ruffle
For a ruffle take the length of the bottom skirt portion and multiply by 1.5. Divide by 2, and measuring on fold, the width that you just came up with. You can make the ruffle however long you want it. Mine was 3 inches folded in half to equal 1.5 inches.

Here's a pic to help my unintelligible  instructions:

Now, Sew the short ends of the ruffle together, and hem or fold in half, whatever you prefer. Mark quarters. Sew The sides of the lower skirt pieces together and mark bottom in quarters.

I use the side seams as 2 of my quarter marks, and if you do this all you have to mark is the middle of the front and back pieces.

Run gathering stitches along top of ruffle and gather up to match quarter marks and sides. Pin all along the edges. Baste then sew then serge or zig zag edges. Topstitch pressing the seam towards the top of the lower skirt portion.

Gathering Ruffle:

Pinning and matching quarter marks:

Basting:

Serging:

Topstitching:

Now sew the sides of both the waist pieces and the upper skirt pieces. Mark both into quarters. Match the sides of both the upper and lower skirt pieces and pin.  Sew gathering stitches along the top of both upper and lower pieces at the same time.  Pull stitches up and match quarter marks and pin. Baste then sew then serge or zig zag edges. Topstitch pressing the seam towards the top of the waist pieces.

Pinning upper and lower skirt pieces together:

Gathering skirt pieces:

Hem the upper skirt piece with a thin hem.

Insert elastic and you are done. Here's the one's I made this morning:

Kelsey:

Paige's:

I also made her peasant top out of yummy organic cotton lycra. I shirred it to give it more shape.

Ok, this is my FIRST tutorial, and I know I don't explain myself all that well, but if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me and I will be glad to help. And, if you decide to make one, PLEASE send me pics, I'd love to see.

Going end this one with pics of my girls TO DIE FOR eyelashes. I wish mine were that long and thick :)

First Day of School :(

It went really well. Paige was ready and she had lots of fun. She also tested wonderfully and made a new friend. Kelsey and I on the other hand moped around and missed Paige. When we went to pick her up, the girls ran to each other like they hadn't seen each other in years. Kelsey yelled "Paige!" Paige yelled "Kelsey!" Then they hugged and hugged and hugged. They really missed each other. :) Some pics:

I have been so lazy...

but it has just been too hot to do anything lately. We here in Tennessee are in the seventh day of triple digit temperatures with killer humidity. It is 101 degrees here right now, and the girls and I have been just sitting here doing as little as possible the past week. Air conditioning doesn't even seem to help. I have sewn some things, but I haven't taken pics of them yet. I can't believe we still have at least 4 more days of this to go. Factor in that it hasn't rained at my house since July first, and I am just wishing so badly for a three day pounding rainstorm. It would be bliss right now. Anything other than oppressive heat and dryness would do.

But, I received my July fat quarter swap from Ana in Portugal. Feast your eyes on this fabric eye candy:

So, so pretty! Thanks so much Ana!

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Paige's first day of school. She is so excited, and I am sure I will have pics to share then. Let's just hope that mama makes it through OK. I know Paige will. :)

Blah Blah Blah and Free Fabric with a side of Quilt!

How's that for a title? LOL. First things first, I have to say how honored and thrilled I was to win the Sew Mama Sew Contest for the "Other" category. I haven't got a chance to say how giddy this made me!! I was jumping up and down and calling folks. I have to show off my prizes:

I bought the gnomes myself because I couldn't resist. The girls had outfits from this last year. Let me see if I can find a pic...

and

(She was having a bad day)

I got the chrysanthemum  from Sewzanne's from a GC I got for Queen of the Month.

And I know you people are like "Stop buying fabric and make something!" :) I have been working on quilt:

From the Chinese Coins pattern here. And a close up:

Made from scraps and white cotton.

Sorry to be so short, look for a more chatty post tomorrow.